North Dakota Competitors and Contractors Are Committed to Well-Being of Rodeo Livestock

In partnership with: North Dakota Department of Agriculture

With their high-dollar purses, vast TV audiences and millions of fans, today’s rodeos seem far removed from their humble origins as competitions between working cowboys. However, what hasn’t changed over the millennia is an emphasis on the health and well-being of the livestock.

All professional rodeo organizations, such as the Professional Bull Riders and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, have stringent rules and guidelines for the contractors who supply livestock to their events. For example, rules prohibit electric cattle prods, and judges verify the bulls are well-fed, healthy and in good condition.

“It’s a lot of different things to make sure the bulls are in the best shape they can be,” says Chad Berger of Mandan.

Berger grew up riding bulls. His father, Joe, was a well-known bull breeder and stock contractor. Berger competed in rodeos until he retired in the late 1980s. In 2003 he started his own company, Chad Berger Bucking Bulls. With a herd of more than 300 bulls, Chad supplies the bucking bulls for more than 60 events a year coast to coast, including the PBR World Finals. Bull riders have voted him as PBR Stock Contractor of the Year a record 11 times.

His experience as a cattle buyer means he knows how to raise and take care of cattle. “We graze about 3,000 head in the summertime,” Berger says. “And we have about that many in the feedlots in winter. In my business as a cattle buyer and seller, and raising them, I know what cattle need. That knowledge is passed on to my bull business.”

Berger says his bulls are on a high-protein diet, exercised, properly rested and monitored by veterinarians.

“I will put my bulls up against anybody’s pet,” Berger says. “If you want bulls to perform, you have to take care of them.”

See more: North Dakota Boasts Generations of Award-Winning Bulls

Rehearsing on the Ranch

The North Dakota Rodeo Association aligns its rulebook with PRCA regulations.

“Most people don’t realize the horses we’re riding, the bucking bulls, even the roping stock are highly valued and extremely well taken care of,” says Nate Horner, NDRA president.

Nate runs about 500 head of cattle in a commercial cow operation near Dawson with his parents and his wife, Lindsey, who is also an equine veterinarian. Both Nate and Lindsey rodeo – Nate in team roping, Lindsey in barrel racing. More than 70% of Lindsey’s veterinary patients are rodeo performance horses. Nate also trains performance horses by first working them as ranch horses.

“We purchase all of our horses at a young age, and then I start training them,” says Nate, who runs Horner Cattle Company and Performance Horses with his family.

However, once a horse moves into the rodeo arena, it just doesn’t stand in a stall on days off. The Horner horses are often used on the ranch.

“Not every horse needs to go back out to work cattle, but every horse will benefit from it,” Nate says, noting some horses begin to show anxiety in the rodeo arena. “Walking up and down the hills here on our place, just leisurely checking cows, is a good way to keep them in condition because they are athletes. And it helps them relax and just be a horse.”

See more: Longest-Running Rodeo in North Dakota Celebrates Family and Community

Since rodeo has become more commercialized, it’s easy to forget why it all started.

“The whole goal of a cowboy was to care for the animals,” Nate says. “And that mentality hasn’t changed. It’s our job to care for the stock, and that’s what we still do, day in and day out, whether it’s on my ranch, in my riding arena or at the rodeo.”

See more: North Dakota Farmers Take Pride in the Care and Safety of Their Animals